


OCtober 2020

by pantalaimon



Category: Among Us (Video Game), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Mothership (RPG), Original Work, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Among Us, Angst, Avatar OC, Chapter 10: - Freeform, Chapter 1:, Chapter 2:, Chapter 3:, Chapter 4:, Chapter 5:, Chapter 6:, Chapter 7:, Chapter 8: - Freeform, Chapter 9:, Character Death, Dragon AU, Dragon Riders, Enemies, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Friends to Enemies, Horror AU, Khajiit (Elder Scrolls), M/M, More angst, Mourning, Other, Sibling Bonding, Soulmates, Surprises, Thief AU, Tutoring, Vacation, Wholesome, anger issues, definitely some tentacles, friendships, impostor, injured, it's wholesome dirk and girana have sibling energy, its pretty sad yall, magnus archives entities, not too many though, really not much substance to this one oops, resurrection AU, roommate au, space, wholesome crew energy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26757622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pantalaimon/pseuds/pantalaimon
Summary: This year I'm doing OCtober using a d20 to roll for randomized OC matchups and also AU prompts. Hopefully I stick with it this year lmao!! I'll be adding brief descriptions of the OCs to the notes as I write them, just for context of anyone reading them. A lot of the characters are DND PCs/NPCs.CONTENT WARNINGS IN THE CHAPTER NOTES OF EACH CHAPTER!!
Relationships: Dirk Halverstead/Leo Skybend
Kudos: 1





	1. Dirk and Girana Roommates AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 is a roommates AU, I put them as college roommates, Dirk as a senior and Girana as a freshman. I always thought that they would get along like squabbling siblings, so I was really excited when I rolled this as my first OC and prompt combo!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dirk (he/him) is my first and most treasured DND PC. A half dwarf rogue/bard in a relationship with Leo, an NPC wizard.  
> Girana (she/her) is a very angry warlock PC, normally dating a paladin named Elain.  
> Content warnings for: anger issues, familial neglect, depression and failing school

Girana was pissed. Well, she was always pissed, but this was just the icing on the cake of a really shitty day. With her mother screaming at her as they loaded the boxes into the car, the 6 hours it took to drive here, and the stares and giggles from the rest of the freshman students, of course the loud music already coming from behind her dorm room door was just what she fucking needed. If her new roommate kept this up for longer than 24 hours, she just knew she would get kicked out for breaking their jaw.

Simmering, she fumbled her key into the lock, silently thankful that her mom had just lit up a cigarette and blasted off in their shitty car, not even bothering to say goodbye. She knew that woman would have some choice words to say to this new roommate, and the thought made Girana calm herself down, but only a little bit. She did NOT want to be like her mother.

She got the door unlocked, and pushed it open, readying herself to shout a greeting over the music. But, to her surprise, the music was not coming from a speaker as she expected. It ceased almost immediately, and she saw that it had been a live performance, by a scruffy looking guy holding a… what was that?

Introductions momentarily forgotten, the two stared at each other for a few seconds before Girana blurted out, “Is that a tiny accordion?”

The man holding the instrument laughed and set it down, releasing a tiny sad noise as all the air whooshed out from it. “A concertina actually, I can’t afford a whole accordion.” He stood up and stretched, and Girana saw that he wasn’t actually all that tall. In fact, he stood a few inches shorter than her.

“Dirk Halverstead,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m assuming we’re roommates, unless you opened the wrong door. Which, it happens.”

Girana set down the box she was holding and hesitantly shook his hand. “Are you sure you still go to school? No offense, but you look, like, thirty five already.”

Dirk grimaced. “Do I really look that old to everyone? I’m a senior, I’m only twenty two.” He looked in the full length mirror hung on the wall between their desks. “Hmmm, maybe it’s the beard. Can’t help that one, it grows back in forty seven minutes, I timed it once when I was drunk and bored. Anyway!” he said, clapping his hands together suddenly. “I was going to the cafeteria, you want anything? I always get hungry when I’m unpacking.”

He was already halfway out the door before Girana could say anything. “Uhhh, like a… do they have bagels?”

Dirk nodded, putting on some sunglasses and twirling his keys around his finger. “Bagel it is, you got it.” He closed the door and Girana stood there for a second, surveying the room, before it opened again. Dirk looked at her sheepishly over his glasses. “Sorry, I just… what’s your name?”

Girana almost grinned. She honestly hadn’t questioned him just up and leaving as soon as she got there. It felt familiar. “Girana. Aogwe, if you need last names too.”

He nodded, and said both names quietly to himself. “Alright, see ya in a bit, Girana. Left bed’s all yours.”

~

Later that evening, Girana seethed yet again as she lay in bed, tightly curled into a furious ball. Soft sounds of snoring came from Dirk’s side of the room, just loud enough to set Girana’s teeth on edge. She considered turning around and yelling at him for a long second before deciding to throw a pillow at him.

Her aim was true, and even though she only wanted to stop the snoring, Dirk sat bolt upright in bed as the pillow hit him.

“WHA- What’s going on?!” he stammered, eyes wide in the darkness. “Are you okay, what’s happening?”

Girana blinked for a moment, anger gone until she remembered the snoring. “There’s nothing wrong, you were fucking snoring. I can’t sleep.”

Dirk seemed to relax at this, that inexplicable panic state fading almost instantly. “Oh, yeah. I do that, sometimes, ‘s’normal.” He yawned and stretched. “I can roll over though. Doesn’t happen so much on my side.” He flopped back over into bed, scrubbing a hand over his beard.

Girana glowered at him in the dark as he lay down. “That better not happen every night.”

There was a pause, and then a shifting noise as Dirk sat up again. “Listen man, what’s your problem? It’s not like I can help it.”

Girana sat up as well. “I don’t have a _problem_. Forgive me for wanting a roommate that doesn’t make so much fucking noise!”

Dirk huffed an annoyed laugh. “Don’t have a problem, sure. And I’m six feet tall.” He turned over and lay down again, yanking his sheets up towards his face. “It’s not good to go to sleep angry, Girana. Good fucking night.”

Furious, Girana slammed herself down into her pillow again, muttering obscenities under her breath. But to her surprise, sleep came quickly, and Dirk’s side of the room remained blissfully silent. 

~

The first semester passed slowly. Girana had been terrible in high school, and she felt equally as unprepared for college. Being a business major was the hardest and most boring way Girana thought she could possibly get a “real job”, as her mom had put it. Policies confused her, and numbers made her head ache.

And as the weather got colder, Girana got angrier. Dirk tried to help, but once Girana made it clear that she didn’t want or need his help, he mostly stayed out of her way. The stress affected her schoolwork most of all. She received strongly worded emails from her professors, and was talked to more than once by the academic advisor about her “unhealthy attitude”. Girana was about an inch away from quitting school entirely when Dirk cornered her in the dorm room one day, blocking the door so she couldn’t leave in a huff of anger.

Girana scowled when Dirk blocked the door with his arm. “What do you want?” she shot at him.

He glared right back, barely above five feet tall but sturdily built, and not about to be moved. “Listen, Girana. Clearly you have some anger issues, and I know-” She protested, interrupting him, but he held up a hand. “No, shut up, let me say it. You have anger issues. Period. You do. And clearly you act like you hate me and everyone else when you actually have some family problems or self worth problems or whatever the fuck.”

Girana stared daggers at him, but let him keep speaking.

“But I’m not your therapist. Thank god. So I can’t help you with that, but I don’t want all this to make you drop out. Clearly you haven’t been doing well, so I got a tutor to help you out. He’s an English major, but he has an econ minor, so he should be able to-”

Girana interrupted him again. “Wait, wait, a tutor?? That’s not going to help, and even if it does, I can’t afford-”

Dirk interrupted her this time, releasing his hold on the doorframe and gesturing to someone out in the hall. “You don’t have to pay him anything, dipshit, he’s here because he wants to help. And because I asked nicely.”

The stranger in the hallway poked his head into the room, smiling brightly at Girana. He was tall, quite handsome, and was wearing a crisp blue shirt and dress pants, looking quite the polar opposite of Dirk.

He stepped forward to shake Girana’s hand. “Hey, you must be Girana, I’m Leo. My students usually call me Mr Skybend, but that sounds weird to me, so you can just call me Leo.” Girana shook his hand reluctantly, and Leo stepped back to put an arm around Dirk’s shoulders.

Girana squinted at the two of them, before asking “So, are you two…”

Dirk nodded quickly. “Oh yeah, should have mentioned. Leo’s my boyfriend.”

Girana nodded slowly as she looked Dirk up and down. “Huh. You don’t… look gay.”

Dirk groaned and put his face in his hands as Leo looked down and chuckled. “Jesus Christ, Girana. I’m not, but that’s an entirely different conversation for another time. And also not relevant! Leo’s going to teach you how to business, you’re going to stay in school and calm the fuck down, and I’m going to finally have a roommate that doesn’t bite my head off every fifteen seconds. Deal?” He extended his hand.

Girana gave a long suffering sigh and closed her eyes for a second. All these handshakes. Well, she thought, it couldn’t hurt to try. And it’s not like she _wanted_ to fail every class. Learning things was just… hard.

She accepted Dirk’s handshake. “Fine. But I’m not promising anything. And your boyfriend might have to be a miracle worker to get me to remember any of those goddamn charts.”

Leo nodded excitedly, wiggling his fingers for effect. “I’ve been known to do some… magic.” 

~

The end of the semester came and went, and next semester too, and miraculously, Girana didn’t drop out. She even passed most of her classes. Some of them with B’s and even an A once. And more than that, Girana and Dirk became almost friends. They still tossed insults at each other more than anything else, but they were friendlier now, inside jokes rather than actual hatred.

And when Dirk invited Girana to stay at his place over the summer instead of going back home to her family, Girana accepted. She gave him a surprisingly sincere congratulations when he and Leo proposed to each other (at the same time), and felt more and more of her anger at the world slip away under the power of these new friendships.

She still had to throw a pillow at him to stop him from snoring once in a while, but in the scope of things, that really wasn’t too bad at all.


	2. Agustín and Yava Coffee Shop AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the second AU of the month! Still going strong lmao, let's see how long I last.   
> Content warnings for: body horror, blood, injury, vivid dreams, and chasing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agustín (he/him) is an OC for a Magnus Archives AU that me and my friends are writing, set in Ávila, Spain. He is aligned with the Eye but touched by the Buried, and works at the Vela Instituto de Investigación.  
> Yava (she/her) is a DND Tiefling Ranger PC that lived in the woods for most of her life as sort of a Robin Hood figure. I made her an avatar of the Hunt in this story, and honestly, there is very little actual coffee shop content lmao.

Agustín always stopped at the same coffee shop on the way to the Vela Institute in the morning. He didn’t get anything special, just a steaming hot latte to warm his hands while he smoked his morning cigarette on the walk to work. He didn’t pay any special attention to the employees or the regulars, none of them had very much in the way of Eye-catching energy, so the daily stop just became an ordinary habit. 

Agustín didn’t have many of those. Ordinary habits. Cataloging and cross-referencing his dreams every morning wasn’t ordinary. Walking through the cemetery to feel at peace was not ordinary. Having secret meetings with his unfortunately attractive boss to discuss the paranormal happenings of Avila was definitely not ordinary.

So visiting the coffee shop felt nice. Even if he barely knew anyone in the small building. He didn’t chat with the baristas like the other regulars did, and they didn’t push conversation with him. They must have sensed that he wasn’t a talker, must have seen that he was usually off in his own-

“That’s a nice skirt, the color looks good on you.”

Agustín looked up sharply. He had been searching through his wallet to find a few Euros to place in the tip jar, and now he looked behind him to see who the barista could possibly be talking to. But as he turned back, she was definitely looking directly at him. She smiled, gesturing down to the floor length skirt covering the lower half of his body. 

He squinted at her for a second. “Thanks. Just a latte please.” 

She nodded enthusiastically and punched some buttons on the screen in front of her. “Latte. Got it. Those are easy (I’m new).” She said this last part in a conspiratorial whisper, theatrically hiding her face behind her hand. She grinned again. Agustín didn’t like her grin. It looked too… sharp. 

He nodded slowly, still staring at her, and started to step over to the waiting area of the counter. “Well I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully.” He made sure to glance down at her nametag, which just read “Yava”. 

As she made the coffee, he stared, but in a different way, so subtle that no one else would be able to notice. Being so closely aligned with the Beholding didn’t often have its perks, but Agustín needed to Know what was different about Yava, what was putting him on edge about her. 

His eyes took her in; tall and slender, with an expression that made her look like she was operating on undiluted caffeine and zero sleep. Her hair was deep black and shiny, and her skin almost glowed with a… a light? An energy? It looked like the world’s faintest red lightbulb was shining on her at all times. 

And strangely, Agustín couldn’t See much more than that. The usual whoosh of staticky energy filled his brain as he attempted to Know her, but… nothing. Almost as if she was…

Agustín stopped. Almost as if there was some other power in the way. His eyes narrowed, and when Yava handed him the latte, he accepted it with a tight lipped smile. 

~

Agustín dreamed about her that night. He knew he would. Agustín took his dreams deadly seriously, and they often revealed things to him that the rest of the world kept secret.

They were in a darkened alley. Where, he couldn’t tell, but it had to be in Avila still. He turned to ask her a question, but before he could speak, she had crossed the distance between them and was kissing him, hard. Her hand gripped his jaw, and Agustín could taste cold metal on her tongue. He was startled, but this made sense somehow, in the way that dreams do. 

Yava’s other hand traced down his chest, her fingernails feeling sharp as claws against his skin. When she reached the softer skin of his stomach, she reached back her hand and plunged her claw into his flesh. Agustín staggered away, clutching at the wound, and looked up at her, disoriented. 

Her skin glowed red in the darkness of the alley, and sharp teeth glinted from behind a wicked grin. She crouched down to where Agustín had fallen, and made a tutting noise. 

“Ah, conejito, my little rabbit,” she whispered, tilting her head in a way that made Agustín’s mind race with fear. 

“Run.”

~

Agustín woke drenched in sweat, gasping and instinctively reaching for his pen and paper. Every dream was important, every dream could be the key to whatever infernal mystery played out around him, but this dream. This dream was immediate. 

He knew he should go to the Institute first. Letting Valencia know about this situation was definitely the safest way to go about dealing with a new avatar in Avila, but… he couldn’t. For some reason, Agustín found himself dressing feverishly, and out the door on his way back to the coffee shop before he registered what his plan was.

And it was a stupid plan. Confront Yava right after this dream that proved how dangerous she was? Without telling anyone where he was going? But he couldn’t stop. Something was drawing him, and he didn’t like it. 

There. The same alley from the dream. And of course, it was the alley directly behind the coffee shop. He stepped in, his breathing shallow and steps uncertain. Would she be here? Or had his dreams finally led him astray?

A noise behind him, and Yava stepped out into the alley. She looked anything but human now, skin blood red with a sharp-tipped tail whipping behind her.

“Come to stare, have we? Come to See for yourself?” Yava’s tone was mocking and playful, and Agustín swallowed the lump in his throat. He tried to keep his voice even in spite of the hammering in his chest and the phantom pain in his lower abdomen.

“You’re another avatar. Why are you here?”

Yava tilted her head, in that same unnerving way that echoed back to Agustín’s dream. “To Hunt, of course. And I don’t like you and your little number Watching me as I Hunt.” 

Agustín could barely breathe. “And what is your… who are you Hunting?” 

Yava grinned, baring her sharp teeth and inching forward in the dark alley. “You, rabbit.”

Agustín turned and ran.


	3. Captain Horror Au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 of OCtober! I'm going to be writing some of these as catch up (on October 3rd already, I know I know) because I've had a lot going on this week, but this one was fun! I love among us and i love horror, and the two work so well together that i was honestly surprised this was a random matchup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Captain (they/them) is a self-insert Among Us OC. They work in the security office of the ship, and they are extremely bad at A) finding the impostor in a manner that keeps them alive and B) being the impostor in a way that keeps them alive. Basically they just die a lot.
> 
> CONTENT WARNING: body horror, space horror, tentacles, death, blood, basically any horror that would exist in an Among Us game

The nights are long on the ship. If they can be called nights, I guess. There’s no sun to rise and set, so everyone just sleeps and wakes by the clock. And Captain always gets night shift. Watching the camera feeds endlessly gets boring. Cafeteria, electrical, admin, reactor, etc etc. Over and over again. Look, there’s Yenna at the comms. Look, there’s Mister Cowboy fixing wires in storage. How exciting.

So, Captain likes to walk around and talk to everybody. Technically as security officer they should be watching the crew from a distance on the monitors, but it’s so much more fun to go out and about on the ship. Captain tells themselves to keep a close eye out for any trouble on the ship, but if they’re being honest, they just wanna have a chat with whoever they see first. 

And most of the time everybody wants to chat as well. Eddie is kind of a mystery, he never gives out any information about himself, but he’s a wonderful listener when Captain has a lot on their mind. Dad of One is always a delight to visit, because little baby Gabriel is adorable in his tiny child space suit. And of course Mister Cowboy is like a brother to Captain, both of them having joined the crew at the same time. 

When they’re not talking to the other crewmates, Captain is poking around the ship, flashing their light into any hidden crevice and (mostly) looking for any sort of thing that would need… security attention. If anyone told Captain they were bad at their job, they would probably agree. But no one else wanted the job of security officer, so there they were. 

Captain is in the middle of one of these cursory rounds of the ship when an alarm starts blaring. Worried, they hurry to the cafeteria to convene with the rest of the crewmates, wondering if they somehow fucked up and missed something on their nightly sweep. 

“There’s an impostor in our midst,” says the captain (the actual captain). “We don’t know who, it could be any of us. All we know for certain is that one of us has already died.” They gesture to something behind them, and everyone gasps in horror. 

On the floor of the cafeteria is a body. It lays crumpled, still in its suit, limbs bent at an unnatural angle. From what Captain can tell about the body, it looks like someone had shoved a sharp spike up through the chest piece of the suit, and out the back of the helmet. Blood still drips from the open wound, and Captain can see bits of shredded skin and uniform clinging to the jagged metal of the torn spacesuit. 

Captain shudders and looks away, and someone else in the crowd retches. Whoever this impostor is must be fast and ruthless. The spike would have had to be shoved in and torn out almost immediately, to cause that kind of damage. 

Another crew member raises a hand. “What do we do now?” they ask, voice a tad uncertain.

The captain sets their jaw, determined to not look at the body on the floor. “We do our jobs. There’s still a lot of things to fix on this ship, and a lot of work to be done. We can’t let this impostor shut us down completely. But everyone keep an eye out. If you see anything suspicious, or find another body, call another emergency meeting here, and we can discuss. If we find out who it is, well…” The captain glances meaningfully at the airlock, and everyone understands. No more impostor. 

They break the meeting up and everyone goes about their duties. On top of security, someone asks Captain to help fix some wiring in electrical. Everyone feels tense, on edge, looking warily at the crew members around them. 

Captain realizes their mistake when they look around in the dark corners of electrical and see only one other person, face to the wall. They turn around quickly, stiff with fear and not wanting to be caught staring. 

They breathe shakily, trying to calm themselves down and plan the next step. This could be the impostor, luring Captain into the dark recesses of electrical where no one can see them die. How stupid did they have to be to just dumbly follow someone into a room alone, in a situation like this?

As Captain forces themselves to move, forces themselves to take one step towards the doorway and the blessed light of the hallway beyond, they hear movement behind them, from the other crew member. They freeze, panic taking over every inch of their body. The image of the dead crew member flashes through their brain, lying broken on the floor.

A hand claps down on Captain’s shoulder, and they nearly scream in terror. They whirl around, wanting to see the face of their killer, to catch a glimpse of identity past the shining surface of the helmet’s glass. 

Only on this crew member, there is no glass. The helmet has shattered open from the inside, and murky blood coats every surface of the ruined helmet. Captain sees a face inside that might once have been recognizable as their friend Yenna. If Yenna was ever their friend. Except this face is barely recognizable as human.

Small bright eyeballs peer out from cavernous sockets set deep in the sallow face, and the only nose to speak of are two snakelike slits rapidly opening and closing with Captain’s scent. Beneath that impression of a nose is a clattering horror, a mess of tentacles and mandibles bursting from a gaping mouth hung down to Captain’s chest. Yenna gurgles a wet laugh, and the tentacles shoot forward to wrap themselves around Captain’s suit. 

They are gentle at first, a thought that manages to instill surprise in Captain’s frozen mind. The horrible probing feelers seem to be searching for the weak spot in the suit, tapping politely on the helmet, inches away from Captain’s eyes. 

Yenna gurgles again, and the tentacles retract slightly. Captain takes a shaky breath, hoping against hope that Yenna considers them a friend.

With a sickening wet crack, one barbed tentacle finds its mark in the suit, tearing clean through to the other side, and Captain is no more.


	4. Beck-13 Vacation AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beck-13 and their crew have a nice relaxing day off :)  
> This one is short, I'm behind on OCtober and I want to just do a bunch of quick ones in the next few days to get back on track!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beck-13 (they/them) is a clone originally developed in the Stellar Firma universe but since sort of divorced from that and incorporated into my larger storybuilding.  
> The crew that rescued them consists of:  
> Jet (they/them) human captain  
> Equinox (xe/xir) half elf first officer  
> Nova (she/her) tiefling science officer  
> Crescent (he/him) star genasi mechanic  
> Solar (she/her) human ranger  
> Sovya (they/them) not mentioned in this chapter but is generally aboard the ship as well.
> 
> Content Warnings: The sea maybe?

Beck-13 sighed as their feet touched the sand. They were on a… a beach, Jet had said. This vast expanse of sand and water and sky was called a beach. They looked up at the incredibly blue sky and thought about the expanse of space that lay just behind it. That empty void was all they had known for years, and now they were on a beach. On vacation. 

Beck flopped down onto the towel that had been laid out for them and stared out across the sand at their crewmates. Equinox shimmered with a pasty layer of sunblock and gritty sand that covered xir back, and xe was hard at work at burying Jet in a hastily dug sand hole. Jet laughed, wiggling their toes out from under the layer of warm sand, but willingly accepted the mermaid shape that Equinox formed around their body.

Nova was all the way out in the water, staring intently down into the waves and occasionally snatching her hands down into the depths, as if she was trying to catch something. Beck saw a small shape impaled on one of her horns, wriggling it’s scaly body and tail. 

Crescent waved to her from the shore, trying to yell at her to stop catching the… did he call them fish? Beck made a mental note to write this all down later. For now, they felt very sleepy and warm under the pressing gaze of the sun. They were just forming the thought that their sensitive clone skin wouldn’t fare so well under the rays if they fell asleep when Solar poked her head into Beck’s vision. 

“Do you want a little umbrella?” She asked, voice as serious as always, despite the fact that they were meant to be having fun. 

Beck nodded, too tired to do more than that, and closed their eyes. They heard Solar shifting around, felt a disturbance in the sand as an umbrella’s shaft was secured in the shifting ground, and felt the blissful circle of shade move over their reddening face. 

Beck-13 smiled as the calming sounds of the waves washed over them, and fell asleep.


	5. Knight and Royal Thief AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, but I love the story that these two have. Hopefully I'll be catching up a little faster on these chapters!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Knight and the Royal are two lovers who must continue to find each other through the years, over the course of uncountable centuries. The Knight lives an immortal life without aging, while the Royal is reincarnated into a new Royal family every time they die. The Knight is nonbinary and often chooses to live for one gender or another at a time. The Royal is reborn into a different body in a different place every time, and the Knight must seek them out, restoring the Royal's memories of their centuries of love with a single touch.

The Knight was tired. He had searched for any trace of his lost love up and down the land for years, through kingdom after kingdom, but no clue had appeared. Not a single royal family seemed to have a child born at the right time, and even when one was born close, the connection wasn’t there. The shared rush of memories that reminded them both of the eons their story had stretched. Just a feeling of emptiness, and an apology to the family as he left.

The Knight remembered the last time he had felt the connection. The Knight was traveling as a woman then, and she had stumbled upon a man washing his hair in the river in a forest. The man had admitted that he was indeed a prince, and going on instinct, the Knight had offered to wash the prince’s hair with her own hands. As soon as the two had touched, like countless times before, a flood of memories had rushed into both of them, and they were married the next day. 

The Knight smiled at the memory as he dismounted his horse in a small village square. Some reincarnations were better than others. Or, not better, he thought. The bond he felt with his beloved was never better or worse than the past. Some reincarnations were more… painless than others. Less complicated. 

The Knight felt himself shaken out of this reverie by a small tugging sensation at his side. He whirled around to see a man sprinting away from him as fast as possible. When the Knight felt his belt, there was a marked absence where his coin purse should have been. Swearing to himself, the Knight took off after the man, chasing him through the crowded square and down a side alley. 

Startled people dove out of the way as the two pushed through the crowds, and eventually the Knight lost sight of the man before turning a corner. Smiling, the Knight slowed his pace, for at the end of this alleyway was a brick wall, a dead end. 

The man holding the coin purse frantically casted his eyes around for an escape, before sighing and giving in, sagging his shoulders in defeat and leaning against the far wall. 

“I suppose I shall be hanged on the morrow for my impudence.” The thief spat, not meeting the Knight’s eyes. He held out the coin purse, his long fingers as graceful as they were unclean. The Knight paused at that. Royal families had turned their children out on the street before… 

Squinting at the thief, the Knight took off his glove and reached out, tentatively grabbing the other man by the wrist. The thief’s face showed confusion for a split second before both of them reeled, the cacophony of images that flooded through their minds incomprehensible yet intensely familiar. 

The Knight’s grip on the thief’s hand became gentle as he pulled his lover into an embrace. Perhaps this lifetime would grant them many years together, before the Knight would have to set off on another search.


	6. Jeremiah and Neremyn Death AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah was the one who lost his life in the attack on Imlethas, and watches as Neremyn must navigate the world without him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY WOW THIS IS A SAD ONE. Honestly I blame the music I was listening to for just how devastating it is. 
> 
> Jeremiah is a DND NPC for my game Fungus and Wagons. He is an elderly dwarf man, a member of the Western division of the Moander cult. His husband Neremyn lost his life in a Salamander attack on the commune of Imlethas, and for this AU I wrote it if their roles had been reversed. Jeremiah has managed to continue his life and be a help to others after the passing of Neremyn, but I wasn't so sure that Neremyn would have had the strength to do the same.
> 
> Content Warnings: Death, depression, futility, emotional tragedy

Jeremiah watched with tired eyes as his husband stared out the window. Neremyn sat in front of this window for hours at a time, staring blankly into the trees beyond. Jeremiah could hardly bear to see him like this, but at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. So, he watched. 

Most of the time, he just wished for some way to talk to Neremyn. Even if his ghostly fingers would just pass right through his husband’s, there had to be some way to communicate, some way to speak from beyond the grave. He had tried everything. Speaking led to shouting, and he tried rattling doors or throwing furniture, but his pale and unsubstantial hands just passed harmlessly through everything he tried to touch, and his hoarse shouts fell on deaf ears.

Frustrated, Jeremiah had tried to turn to magic to help him get a message across to Neremyn, but he had only a small amount of knowledge from his living years, and all the books he had meant to eventually read lay undisturbed on the shelves. He couldn’t even touch them to open them. It was all frustrating, and incredibly hopeless.

Eventually Jeremiah stopped looking for a way to talk to Neremyn, and contented himself with sadly following his listless husband around their shared home in the forest. Neremyn rarely spoke, so Jeremiah filled the silences, talking quietly about anything and everything he could think of, hoping that at least some part of Neremyn heard him. 

Neremyn would absently poke at some of the weeds in the garden, and Jeremiah would tell him the botanical names of the plants, and of the trees around them. Neremyn would shed a tear in front of old photographs of the two of them, and Jeremiah would recount the events of those old days. Neremyn would stare up at the ceiling instead of sleeping, and Jeremiah would tell him the bedtime stories he had heard as a child. 

When Neremyn would eventually close his tear stained eyes and succumb to a restless sleep, Jeremiah would wonder why he was there. Why he had not moved on to the next life. Whatever unfinished business he had left on this mortal plane, he couldn’t fathom what kept him here to watch as Neremyn slowly wasted away in front of him.


	7. Girana and Elain Enemies AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After years apart, Girana and Elain meet once more at the foot of an abandoned fortress, each wanting to claim ownership over the sacred land.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHH this one hurt to write, ouchie ouchie. 
> 
> Both characters are DND PCs, and are canonically still in a relationship. In this AU I had to pit them against each other and it hurt. :(
> 
> Girana is a human warlock who made a deal with a wizard to be transformed into a barbed devil, and made another deal with a Nightmare for powers. She makes a lot of questionable deals.  
> Elain is a half-orc paladin who has taken a vow to protect the sanctity and beauty of nature for the sake of an Elven queen who saved her life. She is young and likes to tell stories. She is usually a lot happier than in this story. :/
> 
> Content Warnings: War, threat of physical violence, betrayal

The rain pelted down on the ancient stones of a ruined fortress, somewhere deep in the Ekoian forest. Two women faced each other, each with an army behind them. There was a tense silence, broken only by the flash of lightning and a hungry peal of thunder.

Girana and Elain looked at each other levelly, neither willing to take a single step forward or back. Each knew that there would be no coming back from the battle that teetered on the edge of erupting. 

Elain spoke first. Her vermillion skin glistened under the pouring rain, and the lightning seemed to glance off her broadsword as it struck, miles away. 

“You and your followers have no business here. Leave this place, and all shall remain unharmed.” She spoke with unusual formality. The thought of using the familiar tone she had once saved for Girana made her stomach turn and her mouth twist. There was nothing familiar between them now.

Girana sneered, her features already starting to turn more monstrous, great black spikes erupting from her forehead and shoulders. “No business here?” she spat. “I’m here to take what is rightfully mine, you are here only to meddle in things you don’t understand.” Girana’s gaze shifted as she grew slightly taller with her transformation, but her face remained largely human.

Elain tightened her grip on her sword and braced her feet against the slippery stone. If Girana had transformed completely, it would have been easier to ignore the humanity left in her, to treat her like the monster she pretended to be, but those solemn brown eyes still stared out from a pale and wild face, reminding Elain of what she longed to forget. 

“This fortress is not yours to claim, nor yours to corrupt!” Elain shouted over another crash of thunder. “And we have no orders to harm you if you leave peacefully. I am here to protect this sacred place in the name of-”

“In the name of who?!” Girana bellowed, interrupting Elain’s speech. “In the name of your Queen?” The words left Girana’s mouth as if they burned her, and her face was tightened in a scowl. “Your Queen who meddles in distant lands and claims ownership over places left alone for centuries?”

Elain said nothing as Girana stepped towards her, jabbing accusingly with a spiked finger. 

“Your Queen who lifts not a hand to aid you in any way, that sends you to do her dirty work? That wretch does not care for you, she does not love you like I-” Girana stopped herself, seething with anger. Emotions roiled in her face as she stood inches from Elain. “She does not love you like you think she does.” she hissed.

Elain drew herself up to her full height and raised her sword to hover in front of her face, ready to strike at any moment. Her eyes were steady on Girana’s, sorrowful yet determined. She spoke quietly, so that the only person who could hear her over the rain was Girana. 

“I must do what is laid out for me. I have never hidden that from you.”

Girana blinked, and something in her eyes paused, hurt and frightened, and once more Elain saw the injured girl she had rescued all those years ago. Then Girana’s pupils dilated in fury, and with a snarl, she attacked.


	8. Dr Ridley Harris Resurrection AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Ridley wakes up after being killed in an explosion, but something is off about him and his crewmembers. They are not quite the same as they once were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr Ridley Harris is a science officer aboard the Anemone. The crew of the Anemone, dubbed the "Cleanup Crew" consists of Captain Ziggs, Sophie the android, Leif the medical officer, and Holly the mechanic, with her mechanical helper HALL-E. The crew have been sent to investigate the planet Hexa-4 and retrieve a specimen, but some horrible things have happened to the last crew to be sent there. 
> 
> These characters are from my Mothership game with Bard Community College which can be found [here](https://youtu.be/znlKXFV290s). 
> 
> Content Warnings: space, mention of death, non-consensual medical procedures, descriptions of tentacles and mandibles, possible hostile alien creatures, body horror

Dr Ridley Harris woke slowly, dimly aware that he seemed to be floating somehow. He tried to move his arms and legs, and found them unfettered, but sluggish. His head pounded, but there was no pain in the rest of his body. What had happened? Where was he, where was the rest of the crew?

In a flash, he remembered the dense jungle of Hexa-4, the menacing obelisk, the explosion. The explosion!

Flinging his eyes open, Ridley sat up abruptly. Or, he tried to sit up, but since he was floating, he only managed to constrict his abdomen and raise his head a little.   
A voice materialized to his right, and Ridley instinctively jerked away, before turning to see Captain Ziggs’ reassuring face. He sighed in relief and reached out a hand to clasp Ziggs’ shoulder. 

“Hey, Ridley, you doin’ alright?” Ziggs asked, his low drawl repeated back by a strange echo in the room. Ridley looked around before answering. He seemed to be in a large circular room, floating a few inches off of a raised pedestal. All the material of the room appeared to be black, and he could pinpoint no light source, but for some reason he could make out Ziggs’ face perfectly, as well as the faces of the rest of his crew members conversing quietly several feet away. 

Ridley turned back to Ziggs. “Yeah, I’m… yeah. I’m okay.”

Ziggs smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He stood up from his crouch and laid a gentle hand on Ridley’s thigh, and one on his shoulder. 

“Good, we were getting a bit worried, you’re the last one to wake up again.” Carefully, Ziggs began pushing down on Ridley, gently guiding his floating body back down onto the black pedestal. “It took Sophie a hell of a long time to figure out this floatin’ business, but eventually we got it down. You should be able to sit up now.”

Ridley felt the hard surface of the pedestal against his back, and cautiously, he sat up. Seeing that he was awake, Sophie, Leif, and Holly joined them. Holly immediately knelt down next to him and grabbed his hand, peering into his eyes. 

“Are ya feelin’ alright, Doctor?” she asked, her accent getting stronger with her nervousness. “You took a right nasty blow to the face back there, I do believe you were the closest t’ the blast.”

Ridley looked up at Ziggs, whose face showed a cringe of apology. The Captain threw his hands up in surrender. “Well, listen. To be fair, hand grenades do solve a lot of problems when you’re asteroid mining. I took a wild guess and thought that might apply here too.” He lowered his hands to rest at his sides. “In… retrospect, throwing a grenade into a pocket dimension we were about to also walk into was maybe not the best idea. I’m sorry.”

Ridley laughed, and braced his hands on the pedestal to heave himself up to a standing position. 

“Oh! Here, Doctor, allow me, please.” Ridley heard Leif’s voice offer him assistance, and held up a hand for Leif to grab. But as he was pulled to his feet, he felt that the hand grabbing him was not… entirely human. Leafy tendrils curled around his fingers, and plant fibers rubbed against his calloused palm. 

Leif’s grip brought Ridley face to face with him at standing height, and Ridley’s mouth dropped open at what he saw. Leif’s entire body was now interwoven with plant fibers, and had he had a green cast to him wherever Ridley looked. The infection that had began only hours before had now grown to cover Leif’s entire body, including his face.

“Leif!” Ridley exclaimed, bringing his hands up to touch his crewmate’s shoulder and neck. “You’re… well, you’re a leaf!”

Leif laughed self consciously, and Sophie stepped into Ridley’s view. “That is what we were discussing before you awoke, Doctor.” Sophie’s eyes blinked once, in that disconcerting sideways way that androids tended to do, and she cocked her head slightly. “It seems that after the Captain’s well planned explosion… ” Ziggs protested in the background. “...we all fell unconscious, or possibly died. I believe we were then experimented on and revived by an unknown entity.”

“His name is Steve,” Holly mumbled from behind Ridley. He whirled around to see her sitting on the pedestal he had just vacated, absentmindedly playing with HALL-E, her tiny robot helper. 

“Wait, Holly, who’s name is Steve?” Ridley asked, still reeling from the knowledge that he had died, much less been experimented on.

Holly stood up, brushing herself off. “You know! The alien. Those tentacle-y guys that HALL-E saw yesterday. I was the first one awake, and he and I started conversatin’ and he sort of reached into my brain and told me his name was Steve.”

Ziggs sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Holly, did he mention what he did to us? Or why? For example, why Leif here is now entirely made of plants? Or why Sophie can suddenly read these hieroglyphics on the walls and I can see through the Anemone’s cameras when I close my eyes?”

Ridley shot him an alarmed look, but Ziggs just shrugged.

“Well, no… I suppose, in a manner of speakin’... no, Captain.” Holly looked down at the floor, where HALL-E bumped repeatedly against her boot. 

Ziggs sighed again. “Well, great. Now we’re stuck in a room with no door, possibly with one death each on our tallyboards, and who knows what fucked up alien shit in our systems! Speakin’ of,” he turned to Ridley. “Do you feel anything… odd, Ridley? Obviously we could tell somethin’ was up with Leif here, but some changes might not be obvious. Just- just close your eyes and tell me if anything seems off.”

Dutifully Ridley closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to sense if anything seemed different about him. He screwed his eyes closed and tried to reach into the depths of his mind, to feel every part of his body for abnormalities. It was hard to concentrate, he could feel the tremors of Sophie pacing back and forth, could feel the unease as Ziggs shifted his weight to his other foot. Wait… 

For the second time that day, Ridley’s eyes flew open. He wasn’t surprised to see that Sophie was indeed pacing. Astonished, he turned to Ziggs’ questioning gaze. “I can feel the vibrations in the ground when you walk, when you shift your weight, I can-” he stopped, breathless, as he realized something else. “This rock, the floor, it- it’s not obsidian, but it’s something very like obsidian. I don’t know how I know that… I just do.” 

Ziggs nodded, and opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, a figure materialized at the far end of the room. Everyone turned and scrambled back away from the figure, but it did not approach them, or even move. It’s face was a mess of tendrils and mandibles, and it’s hands were nothing more than a web of feelers extending out from arm-like protrusions. 

When it spoke, the crew of the Anemone heard the voice loudly inside their own heads. “Well, it’s nice to be seein’ ya awake at last,” the alien said, in a bastardized mockery of Holly’s accent. “The name is Steve.”


	9. Iri and Ivi Injured AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iri has to pull a splinter out of Ivi's paw, because that's what big sisters do, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iri and Ivi are Khajiit sisters. Iri, the eldest, is a Suthay Raht, or a feline looking, anthropomorphic person. Ivi is a Senche Raht, or a large Battlecat. Abandoned by their mother when they were very young, they travel the land by themselves, trusting no one but each other. 
> 
> Content Warnings: Blood, injury, description of pain

“Hold still!” Iri snapped, grasping Ivi’s paw in her hands. Ivi grumbled low in her throat, but did her best to stop moving. Carefully, Iri searched through the thick fur to find the splinter that had dug its way into her sister’s skin. Pressing on a particularly tender spot, Ivi yelped, and nearly yanked Iri to the ground with her paw.

Frustrated, Iri glared at the large battlecat before her, gritting her teeth and forcing herself not to snap at her sister.

“If you want me to get this out, you have to stop dragging me around like a rag doll.”

Ivi’s growl turned into a whine as she rolled over onto her back. “But it huuuurts… ” she mumbled.

Iri sighed. “Just… bite a stick or something, and for the moon’s sake, stop moving your paw!” 

Ivi shuffled her body closer to a small sapling and clamped down on it, indicating with her eyes that she was ready. 

Probing gently, Iri finally found the offending splinter, and grasped it between her fingers. “Ready?” she asked, but Ivi’s answer was just to squeeze her eyes shut. “One, two, THREE!”

Iri felt Ivi’s leg stiffen as she yanked out the splinter, but thankfully, she didn’t get swept to the ground like she expected. The splinter was long and deeply wedged, no wonder her sister had been limping earlier in the day. As soon as the shard of wood was discarded, Iri pressed a cloth to the bleeding wound and nudged Ivi in the ribs.

“You can open your eyes now, it’s out.”

Ivi cracked one feline eye open and stared down at Iri wrapping her paw with the cloth. She let out a sigh that turned into a purr and lay her head down on the ground with a thump.

“Ugh, thank the moon, I was beginning to think we’d have to chop my leg off.”

Iri laughed, and shook her head.


	10. Ashes Taylor Dragon AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I thought it would be neat if Ashes had a dragon companion Eragon-style, and of course he had to bring Kayory to meet her! Just a very cute indulgent scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashes is a DND NPC who is a blue tiefling ranger in my 5e game Fungus and Wagons. Sadly he is a cowboy in actual canon and doesn't actually have a dragon, but honestly I should give him one.   
> Kayory is his boyfriend played by my friend Mikey. Kayory is a satyr bard with a thick southern accent and a head full of applesauce.

Kayory wasn’t sure what to expect when Ashes said he had a surprise for him. The last time he had said anything like that he had brought out a bouquet of flowers, unfortunately the exact flowers that Kayory was allergic to. He had apologized profusely and thrown them away immediately, but Kayory was still a little nervous for what this surprise could be. Especially when Ashes told him to close his eyes.

“You sure about that, babe?” Kayory asked nervously as he placed his hands over his eyes. “I got hooves, you know, and I ain’t too good at balancing when I can’t see.”

“I promise, Kayory, I’m not gonna let you fall over.” Ashes lightly grabbed Kayory’s elbow and led him haltingly behind the house. For most of the day, Kayory had been excitedly taking in every aspect of Ashes’ childhood home, looking fondly at pictures on the wall and nosing around in the pantry and closets. But when he had asked to see the barn, Ashes had winked and said maybe later.

“Is this the later you were talkin’ about?” Kayory asked, stumbling over a dip in the grass. “Are we goin’ to the barn now?”

Ashes shushed him. “Yes, darlin’, but you gotta be quiet now. You don’t wanna scare her before we get there.”

Kayory frowned, worried. “Scare her?” he whispered comically loudly. “Aw shucks, Ashes, this ain’t dangerous is it? I know I’ve almost died…” he started counting on his fingers before realizing he couldn’t see them. “Well, I don’t know how many times, but I don’t want to add another one!”

Ashes sighed as he guided Kayory to a stop somewhere behind the house. “Kayory, listen to me.” Kayory started to lower his hands. “No, use your ears, not your eyes, darlin’.”

“Oh right, yeah, of course.”

“Okay, now listen to me. You listenin’?”

“Yeah, Ashes, I’m listenin’.”

“Good. I will never let anythin’ hurt you, and this surprise is especially not gonna hurt you. She’s a friend. Now turn over he- no, the other way, Kayory. Turn over here, and open your eyes.”

Once he was oriented the right way by Ashes’ strong hands, Kayory hesitantly opened his eyes and blinked in the sudden light. There, curled up in the sun next to the side of the barn, was a large mossy green dragon. 

Kayory immediately clapped a hand to his mouth and looked at Ashes, wide eyed. “Oh shucks, that- Ashes, that right there is a dragon!!!”

Ashes chuckled and walked over to where the dragon lay, lazily blinking over at the two of them. As he neared the dragon, she craned her neck over to nuzzle him with her scaly snout. He petted her scales, and they hovered near each other for a long second, seemingly locked in a conversation Kayory couldn’t hear. 

After a long moment, Ashes turned to him and beckoned her forwards. “It’s okay,” he called. “Come say hello, she won’t hurt you.”

Tentatively, Kayory stepped forward, reaching a hand out towards the shimmering scales. “Well hi, Miss Dragon.” he said softly, but pulled his hand away as the dragon gave an irritated snort. 

Ashes laughed, then said “Her name is Mavira. I don’t think she likes bein’ called Miss Dragon.”

Nodding seriously, Kayory tried again. “I’m terribly sorry about that, Mavira. I don’t know much about dragons, you see, I ain’t never met one before.” His fingers stopped an inch from the top of her head, and he looked to Ashes. “Can I touch her?” he whispered.

Ashes nodded. “Go ahead, but she’ll probably say hi inside your head, so don’t freak out.”

“Okay, got it, sure thing, not even worried about it.” Nervously, Kayory laid a gentle hand on Mavira’s head. Her scales were smooth and bumpy, and he could feel how sharp they were at the edges. 

_Greetings, little one. Ashes speaks highly of you when he visits me._

Gasping, Kayory turned to Ashes, but kept his hand on Mavira’s head. “Ashes! She said you say nice things about me when I’m not here!!”

Ashes’ blue skin durned a warmer shade of purple as he scuffed a boot into the dirt. “Aw, I mean, I guess I talk about you sometimes. I told her that you’re nice, and that I…” he trailed off, growing so quiet that Kayory couldn’t hear him. 

Kayory glanced back at Mavira, who had a conspiratorial glint in her eye. “That you what, Ashes?”

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Ashes finally met Kayory’s eyes. “I told her… aw damn it, I told her I really love you, Kayory. Now look, you made me all sappy in front of Mavira.”

Mavira shook her snout in a motion that might have been laughter, and Kayory released her head to throw his arms around Ashes. 

“Ashes!! I love you too! And I think your dragon’s pretty neat as well, I like her a lot.”

Ashes smiled, Kayory buried his face in his boyfriend’s chest, and Mavira the pretty neat dragon hummed contentedly.


End file.
